


first light

by nyxile



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25970188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyxile/pseuds/nyxile
Summary: Soon after the battle with BloodClan, Bramblepaw has a serious talk with his mentor about the path his paws are on.
Relationships: Brambleclaw & Firestar (Warriors)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	first light

**Author's Note:**

> okay uh i wrote this all in one go but i've had this au floating around my head for SO LONG

Firestar weaved through the ferns that were just beginning to sprout green from the forest floor. They were damp with morning dew that clung to his pelt as he made his way through the territory, breathing in the soft scents of the beginning of newleaf. It wasn't often he left the camp alone, but there had been something about the air when he'd awoken, long before the dawn patrol, that made him crave the feel of the forest under his paws.

He paused at the base of a tall oak tree, opening his jaws to draw in scent. _Mouse!_ Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Firestar dropped into a hunting crouch, pulling himself forward one gentle forepaw at a time. The mouse was rooting among some plants a tree-length away, completely oblivious to the predator hunting it. When he was two tail-lengths away, Firestar bunched his muscles, preparing to pounce. 

_Snap!_ Something cracked a twig nearby and the mouse's head snapped up, looking around frantically for the noise. Firestar lept, slamming his prey to the dirt and delivering the killing bite.

He stood up looked around for the source of the noise with the mouse in his jaws. To his surprise, Bramblepaw made his way out of the bracken. "Sorry," he meowed. "I didn't know you were stalking something."

Firestar waved his tail in acknowledgement and set the mouse down again. There was something in his apprentice's mew and pawsteps that made Firestar tip his head to the side. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked gently.

"I ..." Bramblepaw licked one paw and drew it over his whiskers. "Yeah."

Firestar scraped some dirt over his mouse and flicked his tail for Bramblepaw to follow him. "Well, it's never too early for a patrol," he mewed easily. Bramblepaw, while quick to respond to direct questioning, had always seemed to do better when he let him speak his mind on his own terms.

Looking relieved, Bramblepaw fell into step beside him as they made their way to the border, muffled birdcalls and scuffling noises growing louder as the forest began to wake up with the first light of dawn.

"I've always liked this time of day," Firestar mewed when it became clear Bramblepaw was still mulling over his words. "Or night, I suppose. When it's not quite sunrise, but the sky's started to get a little lighter so you're not tripping over your paws. It's peaceful. I don't think we get enough of that sort of thing in the forest."

Bramblepaw mewed agreement, still lost in his own thoughts.

"I know it's been almost a moon since—" Firestar almost stumbled on his words, the fear still fresh on his tongue. "Since the battle with BloodClan, but sometimes I can't get that sense that we're in danger out of my head. Peaceful morning walks help with that." He twitched his whiskers, a little amused with himself. "That constant worry keeps me on the tips of my paws, at least." 

"Actually, Firestar, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," Bramblepaw broke in all in a rush. "The battle with BloodClan. Or, sort of. I—" he stopped walking to claw anxiously at the dirt, and Firestar stopped too, turning patiently and sitting on a clump of moss. 

Firestar nodded. "Go on."

Bramblepaw heaved a huge breath, like he was steeling himself to get yowled at particularly loudly. "I've been thinking about a lot of things since then. About ... who I want to be and the way I want to serve my clan. And I've come to a decision."

"You sound nervous about it," Firestar meowed, a little teasingly. "Are you leaving to become a squirrel?"

"No!" Bramblepaw answered very quickly. His nose wrinkled when he realized Firestar was joking.

Firestar's tail-tip twitched with a repressed flicker of amusement. "All right," he began more seriously. "Tell me."

"Well, I, uh, you know how—" He broke off, lashing his tail in frustration. "I'm just going to start at the beginning," Bramblepaw meowed. "I know that every cat's always looked at me differently. Because of my father and because I look exactly like him. And I know that I can't change any of that." Firestar felt a spike of guilt. He'd never be able to make up for the way he'd treated Bramblepaw as a kit or a young apprentice, but he'd tried very hard since then to be kind and fair to the young cat. 

Bramblepaw met his eyes for a steady moment. "When my father killed Runningwind, and Brindleface, and brought those dogs to the camp, I was horrified. I can't even imagine killing another cat in cold blood, or hurting a whole clan like that, even if they were my worst enemy, so to witness that and find out it was my own _father_ ..." his mew trailed off and he looked down at his paws. "I meant what I said when I told him I'd rather die than join him. I still would. But I never wanted to watch him die. I—I still have nightmares, sometimes, about that. No cat deserves to die nine times in a row." 

Firestar remembered the stark horror in his enemy's eyes, the heavy fear-scent even blood couldn't overpower, the way his claws scrabbled weakly at the ground in those brief moments of lucidity between deaths ... "I never want to see anything like that ever again," Bramblepaw went on with a shudder. "And then the battle with BloodClan happened, and I'm glad we won, Firestar, obviously, I just—" 

"Just what?" Firestar prompted carefully when he didn't continue.

"I've just felt wrong since then. Like I don't fit in my fur. When we have battle training, all I can picture is Scourge, ripping my father from nose to tail with one claw. Or the way Bone's fur wouldn't come out of my claws for days after the battle ended. And when I'm stalking prey, all I can think about is Tigerstar hunting my clanmates and the way he snuck up on them to kill them in cold blood. Becoming a warrior isn't what I thought it would be." Bramblepaw admitted in a quiet voice.

Firestar padded to sit beside him and rested his tail across his apprentice's shoulders. "Every cat has moments like that, especially after their first battle. It makes us better warriors. If we never knew the price of cruelty and needless fighting, we'd be as bloodthirsty as badgers."

"I know. I talked to some of the other apprentices about it, and we were all sort of feeling the same way. But that feeling hasn't gone away for me, and I can tell it has for them. So I went to see Cinderpelt." He meowed to his paws, refusing to look at Firestar. "We talked a lot. And I thought a lot about what she said and about not feeling comfortable in my own fur and how I don't enjoy training anymore and—" he cut himself off with another deep breath. "And I came to a decision."

Carefully, Bramblepaw raised his head and met Firestar's eyes. There was something in those amber depths, Firestar thought, some sort of fire or determination that was all Tigerstar, but nowhere near as ominous as he'd once seen it reflected in the black-hearted tabby's eyes. Whatever spark Tigerstar had given his son, it had been tempered by Bramblepaw's own, more loyal nature. 

Bramblepaw went completely still. "I want to heal cats instead of hurting them. I want to become a medicine cat," he meowed seriously.

Firestar blinked in surprise. 

"You've been a great mentor, _really_ , and once I got past the whole idea of you wanting to mentor me to make sure I didn't turn out like Tigerstar, I liked having you teach me and I know you know I've always looked up to you and respected you a-and this isn't me quitting because of you at _all—_ "

"Bramblepaw," Firestar mewed, interrupting his anxious ramble. "Are you sure?"

Bramblepaw scrunched his nose up and tilted his head to the side. "Of course! Honestly, even if you weren't clan leader, I think all the other apprentices would be jealous of me anyway."

Firestar held back a purr of laughter. "I appreciate the glowing praise, but I meant about becoming a medicine cat."

"Oh! I, well, yes." Bramblepaw suddenly became very serious. "I've put a lot of thought into it. It's not a decision I'm making lightly. I don't want to cause any more harm to anyone, no matter who they are. My father's done enough of that for all our lifetimes. I want to make things better for me and for my clan and this feels like the right way to do it." 

Firestar had never known his apprentice to make rash decisions. Despite the rambling and hesitation, this was something that had clearly been on his mind for a long, long time. For a moment, Firestar regretted that he hadn't noticed any of the things that had been weighing so heavily on Bramblepaw's mind. After all, wasn't that part of a mentor's job? To be a guiding force for his apprentice, whether that meant correcting a hunting crouch or listening to any doubts he might have about the path his paws would tread? He would miss him. With a jolt, Firestar realized he'd grown to enjoy being around the dedicated apprentice, who was always eager to learn and happy to practice a move until sunset if that meant he could do it right. The clan would lose the potential for an excellent warrior—an echo of what Tigerstar could've been, if he'd used his skill and intelligence for the good of his clan, instead of personal gain.

"Firestar?" Bramblepaw mewed hesitantly.

He turned to give Bramblepaw's head a few swift licks. With a purr, he noticed he would grow taller than Firestar himself soon, if he wasn't already—it was difficult to tell with him hunched over like he was still expecting a tongue-lashing. "If this is what's best for you, I will support you. We can hold the ceremony today, if you'd like."

Bramblepaw let out a trembling breath Firestar hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Thank you, Firestar," he murmured.

Firestar drew his tail back over his apprentice's shoulders. "I want you to know you can still come to me with anything that's bothering you, even if you're not my apprentice. In fact, you should have come to me about this earlier. I could've helped."

Bramblepaw's ears flattened against his head in embarrassment. "I didn't want you to think I wasn't happy with you." 

"I think I could have coped," Firestar responded dryly. "I mean it, though. Whether as my apprentice or as my medicine cat, I'll still want to hear what you're thinking. _Especially_ if it's different from what I'm thinking" He stood and stretched, looking toward the sky. The light of the sun was beginning to turn the treetops a luminous gold: it was time to officially start the day.

"Come on," he meowed, flicking Bramblepaw's ears with his tail. "We should get back."

Bramblepaw rose to his paws and padded after his leader. As they wove their way through the dense undergrowth, Firestar picking up the mouse from earlier as they made their way toward camp, he gave his former apprentice an appraising look. Bramblepaw seemed to walk more confidently, his ears perked and his tail held high. He looked as excited over the process of sorting leaves as he ever had over battle practice. Firestar felt a pang in his chest at losing another apprentice to the medicine den. At least, he reassured himself, this one went willingly, as healthy as he ever would be. 

Yes, he would miss him. The clan would mourn the loss of an excellent warrior. But Firestar was sure, with all the certainty he'd ever had in the ground beneath his paws and his warrior ancestors in the stars above, that Bramblepaw would make an equally excellent medicine cat. 

Time would only prove to serve him right.

**Author's Note:**

> me while writing this: hey flame cat can u go two sentences without comparing bramble to his dad  
> firestar, politely: no. also go fuck yourself.
> 
> anyway i'm obsessed w the idea of bramblepaw deciding after all the violence his father & bloodclan caused that he doesn't want to hurt anyone ever and completely rejecting his father's legacy by choosing to be a healer. i think that's a much more powerful reversal than him becoming tigerstar (ambitious and a good leader) but kind and loyal to his clan. 
> 
> also i love bramblepaw as he's written in the prophecies begin. i like the brambleclaw of tnp too (for the most part) but i've always loved this little guy the most and felt that this could be a genuine possibility for him. i think the brambleclaw we see in tnp is mostly past all the events of the other books and while he's not like. fully developed obviously he's very certain he wants to be a warrior with all that entails. the apprentice who said "i know where my loyalties lie. i'll prove that one day." and tells tigerstar he'd rather die than leave his clanmates is less so. at least imo. 
> 
> i have so many ideas for this universe (mostly revolving around po3 and how they're gonna deal with leafpool getting pregnant--because bramble's obviously gonna notice) but we'll see if i can actually finish writing anything lmao
> 
> also please let me know if there're any errors in here. i tried to write in the same style as the books, but writing in past tense is _not_ my normal thing; i tend to switch back to present tense without realising it so lmk if there's any of that pls :)


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